What Works: Eye Lighting International

MENTOR -- When you think of light bulbs, you probably think of the bulbs you use around the house.

At Eye Lighting International, they make the kinds of light bulbs that probably won't fit into your desk lamp.

Eye Lighting International is part of a global conglomerate based out of Japan.

WKYC Photojournalist brings you the story.

With operations in the U.S., London, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, they're one of the larger manufacturers of HID and LED lighting in the world.

"HID lamp is a high intensity discharge lamp. It's one of the larger lamps you don't normally buy at a retail store, but is used in street lighting, sports lighting, commercial and industrial lighting," said Eye Lighting International President and CEO
Tom Salpietra.

The bulb making process goes through a few different stages.

First, they assemble the insides of the lamp using a spot welder -- in a very small spot.

"And a lot of the materials require a very exact control of parts, and exact welding process, and that's why you saw the variety of the welding systems used today," said Vice President of Operations Paul Jurkovic.

"At the end here is an inspection where we check the welds, and make sure the lamp is ready for the finishing department to put the jacket on them," said Lead Technician Lillian Blevins.

The jacket is the glass globe that encases the arc light assembly. The parts are sealed together and then they extract the air from inside the jacked to create the vacuum needed for the light to work.

Every lamp is tested for a minimum of a ten-minute burn time.

"What works for Eye Lighting is that we're very quality conscious," Salpietra said. "When somebody buys an Eye Lighting lamp and they go to plug it in -- whether it's in that sports stadium, it's in that retail store, or the industrial warehouse, we make sure the first time they plug it in, and every time, it's going to work."

With that reputation, they were chosen to light the flag at the 911 Memorial Site in New York City.

"It's a very special spotlight, with a very special color temperature, to be able to make the colors red, white and blue really pop out of the flag," Salpietra said. "We have a great workforce. We run it as a business, where everybody is part of the decision making process."